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Olivier Messiaen was commissioned by the French government to write a piece commemorating the dead of the Second World War. In Messiaen’s words, “I am a Catholic and I believe in neither war nor death. I therefore decided to write a piece about life.”

The result was his monumental Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, the centerpiece of this program. It is regarded as one of his most important works and one of the monumental works of the 20th century.

Other works include John Mackey’s Frozen Cathedral and Mozart’s Serenade in C Minor.